Nice wide sidewalks

Today is our third full day here.

We arrived Saturday afternoon, 4:30ish I reckon. We went to get bikes on Sunday, but places were closed, and it was raining. We went to a mall so I could walk with my walker; I needed to move and couldn't cycle yet.

Monday we drove, in the rain again, to get bikes. This time Boogie Down was open. That's where we rented our bikes.

I called two other places to see who had what. Boogie Down was the only place that rented mountain/street bikes with gears and not just one-geared beach cruisers.

Cruisers use pedal-brakes. I haven't used pedal-brakes in decades; my habit of handbrakes may cause me to go boom if I try pedal-brakes. Plus, sometimes cruiser handle bars are a U-shape; that position would be rough on my arms. So, cruisers are out for me.

It was raining too hard Monday to ride, so Hubby loaded the rental bikes onto the car rack and drove back to the hotel and unloaded the bikes from the car rack and chained them to the bike rack supplied by the hotel in the key-access-only breezeway. I had rented a Mongoose brand, girl bike, with gears. Hubby got a cruiser; I forget the brand.

After dropping off the bikes, we drove to the Museum of Arts and Science (MOAS) in Daytona. I needed to move and didn't want the mall again. MOAS was the perfect choice. The art, history, and science were all engaging. Except the planetarium show. Hubby and I both nodded off. I poked Hubby when he started snoring, which had woken me up.

One of my favorite exhibits in MOAS was the Coca Cola memorabilia in the Root Family Museum section. It was really cool with all sorts of vending machines on display.

And I learned about Chapman Root who designed and patented glass drinking bottles. His bottles were chosen for Coca Cola back in the day.

Just that morning, some seven hours earlier, I had been thinking about glass bottles wondering who figured out that sand could be made into glass? Prior to glass, humans would have used wood or clay or moltable metal to make vessels and plates. Windows would be covered with wood or iron, before there was glass.

And now, seven hours later, I'm staring at hundreds of glass bottles.

A few weeks ago I thought, In a world of plastic, be glass.

At MOAS, I walked using my walker, and, when I got tired, I rode in my walker while Hubby pushed me. But I didn't use the footrests because each one is folded upwards and, with two different colorful pipe cleaners, is attached to its corresponding, perpendicular, metal rod. That keeps the rests from falling down when they aren't being used. I didn't feel like messing with trying to untwists and then retwists the pipe cleaners.

I bought my walker in 2016 and named it The Phoenix; it's painted a metallic burgundy. It has a padded seat, a basket under the seat, a padded back support bar with a separate padded push bar, lockable handbrakes, and footrests for the rideist's feet when the walkist gets tired and needs to sit and becomes the rideist. I seldom become a rideist on The Phoenix, but it came in real handy at the museum.

Today, Tuesday, we were able to ride bikes. I was so glad. I needed to ride. But, I had to take my Mongoose and trade it in. It was so uncomfortable. While riding it back to the rental shop to trade it, I thought, Maybe one has to be a mongoose to ride this thing. I traded it for a Trek. Whew; that felt so much better. I have to store the Trek inside when not in use, out of the salt air, so it doesn't corrode too quickly. It's more costly to replace than the Mongoose. It has a nice storage spot in our studio room.

On our ride, we saw lots of little lizards, which I guess are skinks, and lots of tiny-little, dark-gray crabs. I like watching crabs side-walk.

We rode our bikes on sidewalks today. Sidewalks here are nice and wide, designed for simultaneous use by cylcists and walkists, little lizards and tiny crabs.